Something that has already been talked about has been to expand CotH's scope to be a general RP/gaming community. I would presume that a decent amount of folks enjoy the community, including the friendships they may have nurtured over the years. I would also hope that folks appreciate the rules for the community as well. Therefore, I will continue with my previous intention that I had for the server - so long as people remain interested, I will do what I can to keep the venue available. Obviously, I can't really apply that towards a WoW server, but I can apply that towards other venues, such as forum RP or other game servers.

I realize that the WoW server was the main draw for many folks and now that it is gone they will likely move on to another server. I cannot blame them and I hope they find a sufficient replacement. However, for those that may wish to stick around, we will need to decide on what we may want to do next.

Do we wish to move on to forum RP?

Do we want to have some sort of live chat RP?

Do we want to continue RP in other mediums, such as NWN/NWN2, GW2, etc?

Do we just want to have some game servers running so when the inclination hits, we have something to play with friends (regardless of RP)?

What ideas do you all have?

I Am the Sea

Need an easy way to host/link files and images? Check this thread!Try to never just say, "My character isn't interested in that adventure." A lot of people mistake this for good roleplaying, because you are asserting your character's personality. Wrong. Good roleplaying should never bring the game to a screeching halt. One of your jobs as a player is to come up with a reason why your character would be interested in a plot. After all, your personality is entirely in your hands, not the DM's. Come up with a reason why the adventure (or the reward) might appeal to you, no matter how esoteric or roundabout the reasoning. -(Source)

Moving into other games, I think the profiling is a bit of an interesting topic. If it's just a group of us in, say, Guild Wars 2, we may wish to keep profiles optional like we did in the past (both for the Nightslayer Warband in GW2, and C.O.T.H. in Champions Online). However, if it's something I host such as a NWN2 server or even a MUD, we might want to get volunteers for each particular game that may be currently interested in playing it and have them assist with profile-checking.

I Am the Sea

Need an easy way to host/link files and images? Check this thread!Try to never just say, "My character isn't interested in that adventure." A lot of people mistake this for good roleplaying, because you are asserting your character's personality. Wrong. Good roleplaying should never bring the game to a screeching halt. One of your jobs as a player is to come up with a reason why your character would be interested in a plot. After all, your personality is entirely in your hands, not the DM's. Come up with a reason why the adventure (or the reward) might appeal to you, no matter how esoteric or roundabout the reasoning. -(Source)

Profile sections could still work as places we could provide feedback for other games and help each other with game lore, even if they aren't something enforced. Hosted games of course could fall under traditional CotH rules and regulations. And call me crazy, but I wouldn't even kill the into system. Maybe re-word the questioning to encompass joining a general game community rather than specifically a WoW server, ie asking about what role a player likes (tank/damage/healer) instead of race/class combos from a specific game.

I'd give a definite yes to forum RP, voice depending on interest gauge (though I myself would less likely do it, but I don't wanna rule it out for others), and yes to a game server (especially an RP server if people want it!)

Whatever happens, I'm interested in taking CotH to the next level and will do everything I can to make a transition more smooth. I love the community to bits and it's been near and dear to my heart for the years I've been here. I come from forum RP at the start of my roleplaying career, so I have some experience in moderating it and setting it up.

I don't see us having to go one way or the other. We can cater to all, where live-chat RP can be as available as more in-depth forum RP, in my opinion. It seems people are already starting to go different directions with various other games, so being able to center everything here and serve as a hub which has the ability to expand as time goes... That would be amazing.

(Although, the introduction system will need to be overhauled. Amongst other things.)

I've kinda started to scoop players into GW2 as well---seems Nightslayer Warband was a bit under-used at the time and I assumed it was inactive.

Right now there's a lot of CoThies in the Grey Militia Guild, that I've had Reigen and Squirell helping with as well. We've got ideas for storylines, and I've posted some thoughts on private discussion in regards to profiles.

I'm thinking if we do profiles, -definately- make them optional. We can have people post them for whatever game they'd like---and use the game as a tag for the wiki. So, basically, let's say I profile "Rensin", It'd be "Rensin [Norn Warrior][Guild Wars 2]", sort of like the format we had for the private server.

Chat isn't even something that I had considered. It has merit -- we could essentially create chat rooms that represent larger areas, with the expectation that people would move into private channels to interact in roleplay if they wish to be insular.

It maintains the faster style to which most community members are likely accustomed and would likely be less intimidating for them than forums-based roleplay.

Also, MUD. Man, that's some nostalgia right there. I played on Discworld for a bit and even LambdaMOO (which is technically a MUD, object-oriented) before the whole Mr. Bombay brouhaha that led to a substantial and necessary change in culture.

That said, I think that there's a lot to be gained by making this a hub for roleplay. They'd end up being mostly autonomous with separate areas of the forums dedicated to whatever IP is being pursued (Warcraft, GW2, SWG, NWN2, whatever!). The big thing is setting everything up so that the expectation of the same type of experience despite medium is realized regardless of platform.

I'd love to RP throughout some kind of game, similar to coth. As long as there is a say, way to 'emote' and decent customization I'm definitely down. Chat and Forum RP are difficult to get into ( just my personal preference ) but I'll definitely support whatever direction the community tends to go with. Hopefully we can still do Kidnapped.

I support the idea of forum RP, chat RP and any other game that I can get my hands on. I just love RP in general and all the people here. One question I've been holding into though: Will the forums be staying up? Because I think if there was no central forum for our (not so) little community, it'd be a bit...segregated.

“Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.”
— G.K. Chesterton

I like all of the ideas, they're cool and stuff, but whatever route we'll take we'll have to work things out. And I think we should deal with things as they come along, not try to figure everything out at once, cause otherwise it's a clustered up firetruck that'll take a long time to run if it ever does.

The server is down, but CotH is not. We're still a community, we enjoy RPing, we enjoying gaming, and we (mostly) enjoy one another. Whatever we decide to do, let's just stay a community. Yeah, goodnight.